Windrunner
by Aiwritingfic
Summary: Seigaku has a race during a training session in the clouds. Fuji, Seigaku ensemble, rated G.


First posted to my Livejournal archive (Apples For Me) on November 23, 2007.

**Title**: Windrunner  
**Characters**: Seigaku ensemble  
**Wordcount/Rating**: 700+ words / gen  
**Spoilers/Warnings**: By now people should probably expect random AUs from me, right?  
**Summary**: Seigaku has a race during a training session in the clouds.  
**Author's Notes**: Ai sent in her prompts for a TezuFuji fic for Christmas Cacti. Ai kept thinking about Ai's comment re: fluffy pink clouds and fic. Ai ignored the bunny. Bunny pounced Ai while Ai was writing _Inflight_. 

My one consolation from this whole mess is, as I was the one responsible for the prompt in the first place, I won't have mangled someone else's Christmas Cacti fic. That, and I can dedicate this to **Shimawazen**, who has been reading practically since the beginning. Thank you for reading, and here is your long-delayed thank-you gift of Fuji playing a practical joke on someone.

* * *

They raced across the clouds. Eiji grinned, taking the lead. He hopped gracefully, bouncing off one cloud, then another, making a rolling landing onto a third before he was up again. "Nya, can't catch me! I'm going to win this time!" he taunted, somersaulting over a tuft as he turned back towards his teammates and grinned. 

"Eiji, look out!" Oishi shouted to Eiji's left, changing course towards Eiji.

"Hoi?" Eiji turned to face forwards--just in time to see that he was on the very edge of the last cloud.

He spun, digging his heels into the soft whiteness under him, and teetered on the brink a moment, arms windmilling backwards frantically as Oishi ran towards him. The cloud beneath him shifted, and Eiji sank downwards a fraction. "Yikes!"

"Eiji!" Oishi shouted, running faster; but he was two clouds away, and it would take time for him to reach the other. "_Eiji!_"

Then something tipped--the wind perhaps, and Eiji's desperate flails catching it just right--and then Eiji moved backwards again, losing his balance to land on the cloud with an "oomph". "Safe!" he said, turning back towards Oishi with a joyful grin as Oishi slowed, and then slumped to the clouds himself with a sigh of relief.

* * *

Ahead now that Eiji had lost his lead, Fuji and Echizen raced neck-to-neck. The clouds were thicker here, lending a springyness to their footfalls. Fuji could hear nothing but the wind rushing past his ears, softly whistling, whispering _he'ssafe_ and _soonnowverysoonnow_ and _welcomebacktoourworld_ and _watchyourstepyoungwindrunner_ as it swirled around him.

From beside him, Fuji could hear Echizen chuckle. "Ne, senpai, is it okay if I get there before you?" Echizen asked, grinning at Fuji from beneath his cap.

"Saa," Fuji said. The wind whispered some more in his ears--_Whatnextwhatnextshallweplaytoo?_--and Fuji smiled. "I wonder if you will?"

Echizen eyed Fuji suspiciously. They sped up in unison, both racing into the mist before them. The mist was cool and wet, dampening Fuji's hair and causing strands to stick to his neck. The wind tickled--_areyoucoldareyoucold_--and stroked his neck with icy fingers, but Fuji welcomed the company. The wind was always an interesting companion.

Beside him, Fuji could feel Echizen's focus shift. He looked at Echizen and saw Echizen's attention focused much farther ahead of them. Turning to gaze ahead through the mist, Fuji smiled, too. (_He'stherehe'sthereyay!_)

The figure wasn't moving--he stood, arms crossed, watching as Fuji and Echizen approached him rapidly. In one hand, he held a stopwatch. (_Hurryhurrytheboy'sgettingahead!_)

"See you at the finish line, senpai," Echizen said to Fuji. He put on a burst of speed and leapt through a misty pillar of vapor--

--only to find the way forward dissolving before his feet.

_Heehee_, Fuji heard in his ear.

He couldn't help but laugh lightly. _I didn't need that,_ he thought.

_It'sfunfunfunfunwheeeee!_ was the breathy reply.

With a muttered curse, Echizen twisted, leaping sideways, managing to swing himself at the last moment towards another cloud as his most direct route and the next two candidates melted into nothingness. "Not fair, Fuji-senpai!" he said, trying to catch up.

Fuji smiled, breathless from the headlong nonstop rush. Perhaps it had been unfair to Echizen, but the clouds moved as they wished. If the wind merely nudged them in the right direction occasionally, that could hardly be Fuji's fault, even if he did encourage that sort of thing, right?

"Saa, Echizen ... the wind's picking up, ne?"

It was indeed. The wind circled Fuji, pulling at him invitingly. _Comecomecomeflyflyflyflyfly!_ it urged.

The time was right--Fuji took a breath, reached out, and kicked off, feeling the wind catch him and carry him onto Tezuka's cloud.

_Wheefunfunfunagainyesyes?_ it asked, and Fuji thought perhaps the wind was whistling merrily.

_Perhaps in a little while,_ Fuji replied, landing before Tezuka, letting go of the wind.

Tezuka clicked his stopwatch. "Two minutes," he said.

"Do I get a prize for being first?" Fuji asked, giving his usual cheerful smile. "After all, you need to reward your teammates once in a while, ne, Tezuka?"

"Hn."

Oh? That hadn't been an outright refusal ... Fuji opened his mouth, about to speak, when he heard a shout behind him.

"Fuji! Too fast! You should have waited for me!" Eiji said, glomping Fuji. Then Echizen was there, and Oishi, and everyone else was on the cloud.

_Againagainagain_, said the wind, tugging at Fuji's hair.

- end -

shuffles feet I hope you liked it?


End file.
